Hey all. I'm looking at building a studio in two of the buildings on my place. I've had a smaller studio in the city, but a larger country studio is something I've been working towards for a long time. Now I can finally make it happen.

So there are two buildings, one large barn/shed and one cottage. They're about 5m apart...

The cottage has a small kitchen, and separate bathroom/shower.

The barn is one big space with an extra area (semi enclosed) attached to the southern end.

I've laid the floor with yellow tongue, underneath is some framing, with 200x50mm landscaping sleepers, to keep it all off the dirt. I've also concreted the frame at selected spots to keep it all solid. Because the dirt wasn't level, the floor is three 'platforms' or stages, I think it's kind of cool like that! And a some uneven surfaces isn't a bad thing.

The next step is concreting the front (11x4m) and rear enclosure (6x3.5, which will be the control room). I'm also getting an electrician out to have a look. Here's the pics so far:

I'd love some suggestions on enclosing the wall/roof. I'm thinking to work from the outside (I think the aesthetic inside would be more important). I've been chatting to Andrew from Ultrasonic in Brisbane (who's been super helfpful!) and I'm thinking Blueboard - Cavitry - pink batts? - Corregated iron (for the look)?

Looks good Steve! Always good to look at these sorts of pictures..Are the floor bearers and joists fixed to some sort of posts in the ground or are they just resting on those packers as one of the pics suggests?/ I would have the floor fixed to posts that are concreted into the ground to make sure it doesn't move down NOR up! When you say bb--batts--corro, is that from inside to out or the other way around? Are you going to have two decoupled walls/ceilings on all sides or is it just going to be the inner and outer cladding on the same frame? All one room, or is it going to be divided?You say the property is in the country.. Is the isolation important or do you not have much to isolate yourself from (bothering neighbours, noise coming into the studio from elsewhere etc..)Sounds like you've had some advice already, but if the sound isolation is of importance to you, I would suggest making sure it is done the right way, before you proceed further... And if you have all that worked out, then that's great and please...keep the photos coming

Corregated iron internally on the ceiling and walls?It would be my last choice in the world for a room to sound nice. Delays, unwanted reflections everywhere (always) - basically an acoustic nightmare.

If you look at possibly every half decent studio on the planet - they have live floors, dead ceilings, and non, or part reflective walls . There is a very good historic & proven acoustic reason for this approach. IE: reflection from the floor is what sounds best.If you wanted a cheap (and importantly not heavy) option for the ceilings - then you can use layers of tontine, and stretch a breathable material like hessian or similar under the rafters to hide it all.

This roof structure was designed and built to only take the weight of the existing roof (some tin). If you start adding weight, (plasterboard, ply etc) then you will need to have the roof structure strengthened to support the additional weight, and then the top wall plates too, and also add more ceiling joistsThe spans between posts already look seriously too large, and not to proper building codes.So you are in a situation where you cannot put any additional weight on the ceilings.There is also no bracing.IMO be very very careful with this building. I would get in a carpenter and strengthen all the framing and roof supports, The lean-to roof supports (the 4x2 beams that these sit on, are in no way safe - the span is way too large and seriously under spec) Put some proper ceiling joists in (there is only 1 or 2 in the pic's ????? - very dangerous) , brace the walls ( there is none!)

So - strengthen strengthen strengthen! (and use extremely light materials on any ceilings) (or someone may be seriously injured - or much worse..)

I'm saying this all, as a fully qualified carpenter/joiner/builder - who has built many studios over the decades.And, more to the point - I dont like hearing of people dieing from collapsing structures.

"Are the floor bearers and joists fixed to some sort of posts in the ground or are they just resting on those packers as one of the pics suggests?/ I would have the floor fixed to posts that are concreted into the ground to make sure it doesn't move down NOR up!"

The floor bearers are fixed to the posts and concreted, the timber packing in the pic was just holding it in place for the concrete to go underneath etc

"When you say bb--batts--corro, is that from inside to out or the other way around? Are you going to have two decoupled walls/ceilings on all sides or is it just going to be the inner and outer cladding on the same frame?"

If you look at the pics you can see the walls are the split logs... that's the way it'll stay on the inside, then (working to the outside) I'm thinking of using the yellowtongue (out of the weather) (14kg per m2), air gap (maybe filled with pink batts), blueboard (about 10kg per m2), then Corro. The corro is just cladding for looks on the outside,which I'll put on at a later date, source an old shed being knocked down or something..

All one room, or is it going to be divided?

For the moment one room. It will be divided by some large baffles with windows. Like big movable walls. I'm really keen on musicians feeling in the same space, even tracking without headphones... The room will be about 11m x 12m. I might add an iso booth or two down the track.

"You say the property is in the country.. Is the isolation important or do you not have much to isolate yourself from (bothering neighbours, noise coming into the studio from elsewhere etc..)"

The main purpose is to keep the noise out, mainly frogs, rain (on the roof), there's a road about 50m away, but a load car/bike would definitely be picked up. Not a busy road, but it only takes 1 car...

The main concern I have is the rain on the roof... but I'm thinking adding insulation and another layer of tin will reduce it to a workable level.

"Corregated iron internally on the ceiling and walls?It would be my last choice in the world for a room to sound nice. Delays, unwanted reflections everywhere (always) - basically an acoustic nightmare."

Nah, it''d be Iron on the outside. However, the ceiling will be the existing corrugated iron, but I'll treat that. The walls are split logs (but there are gaps between), one wall concave, the other flat.

"If you look at possibly every half decent studio on the planet - they have live floors, dead ceilings, and non, or part reflective walls . "

Yeah that's where I'm hoping to head. I want a room that sounds big, but is quite dry. So yes treatment will happen. The thing I get from everybody I've talked to, including Andrew from Ultraphonic, is to try and keep the look/vibe of the space.

"If you wanted a cheap (and importantly not heavy) option for the ceilings - then you can use layers of tontine, and stretch a breathable material like hessian or similar under the rafters to hide it all."

Thanks for the suggestion, good call, that's what I think I'll do on the inside. I haven't heard of tontine? I'll check it out. Do you think that's the best bang-for-buck for acoustic insulation?

As for the structural side of things..it's a bit hard to see in the photos, but there's quite a bit that you can't see. More posts, beams. My questions were mainly relating to acoustic considerations, acoustic gain vs cost. I definitely wouldn't put anything too heaving on the roof without bracing. I'm very lucky to have a fellow musician and builder of 40 years working with me on this.